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CBS shifts schedule to boost ratings for 'Extant'

David Bauder AP Television Writer

Posted:
07/29/2014 02:34:51 PM MDT

NEW YORK (AP) — "Extant" is getting a kick-start from CBS to try to improve its ratings less than a month into its run.

Starting Wednesday, CBS is moving the drama starring Halle Berry back an hour, to 10 p.m. EDT, so that it follows "Criminal Minds." The hope is that the long-running procedural will provide a more compatible lead-in than "Big Brother," which airs at 8 p.m.

"Extant" had just under 6.5 million viewers last Wednesday, the Nielsen Co. said. That was enough to make Nielsen's top 10 for the week, and CBS says "Extant" picks up significant time-shifted viewership. But it's not the big splash that TV's most popular network was expecting for its highest-profile new drama of the summer, which was beaten last week by reruns of two "NCIS" dramas.

Struggling Fox must shudder to think where it would be this summer without Gordon Ramsey. The season debut of "Hotel Hell," in which the cranky chef takes on the hospitality industry, was behind only "Master Chef" and "Hell's Kitchen" as the network's most popular show last week.

CBS won the week with an average of 5.4 million viewers. Led by two airings of "America's Got Talent," easily the week's most popular program, NBC averaged 5.2 million viewers. ABC had 3.9 million, Univision had 3.2 million, Fox had 2.8 million, Telemundo had 1.3 million and ION Television had 1.2 million.

TNT was the week's most popular cable network, averaging 2.24 million viewers in prime time. USA had 2.15 million, the Disney Channel had 2.08 million, Fox News Channel had 1.78 million and History had 1.62 million.

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NBC's "Nightly News" topped the evening newscasts with an average of 7.8 million viewers. ABC's "World News" was second with 7.4 million, and the "CBS Evening News" had 6 million viewers.

ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. CBS is owned by CBS Corp. CW is a joint venture of Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corp. Fox is owned by 21st Century Fox. NBC and Telemundo are owned by Comcast Corp. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks.

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